At the start of the local election season, The Desert Sun asked voters what questions they had for candidates.

Palm Desert voters wanted to know when their utility lines would be moved underground.

The answer is: The city's working on it.

City Council will be presented with a plan to move utility lines underground at its Oct. 25 meeting.

The plan has been three years in the making, stemming from an ad hoc committee that formed in 2015 to examine the issue. After a year of study, the council voted in 2016 to make the issue one of its top priorities. After that, the city hired a consultant to prepare a master plan that outlined various financing and project options.

What will be presented to the council at the meeting are city staff’s recommendations on what path would be best for the city to make the complete under-grounding a reality — a more than $600 million feat.

Mayor Sabby Jonathan said it is an “absolute goal in the city of Palm Desert, and if it feels like it is taking a long time, that is because it is. We aren’t ignoring it, it is just a complicated undertaking. But we are moving forward and getting it done.”

There are a variety of ways the city could finance this large an undertaking, and most likely will choose to combine more than one financing avenue, Jonathan said.

The options fall under the state’s Rule 20 guidelines, which advises how money is allocated to fund the under-grounding of overhead electric and telecommunication facilities in cities.

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Palm Desert City Council will be presented with an underground utility implementation plan during their Oct. 25 meeting.(Photo: The Desert Sun file photo)

The first option, Rule 20A, would allow the city to use credits from Southern California Edison to help pay for the under-grounding of large power lines along major roads with a high volume of public traffic. The money is collected and allocated to cities from a portion of what ratepayers spend on their monthly energy bills.

The second option, Rule 20B, would allow neighborhoods in the city to opt-in to a special assessment district. After the collective of residents go through the process of creating an assessment district, they would then pay the special assessment each year to fund the process.

Through this option, a property owner could pay $1,000 to $2,000 a year over an estimated 20 years, according to David Hermann, the Palm Desert spokesman.

A property owner would initiate the process with an intent letter to the city. Then, a petition would be circulated to all affected property owners; the city would prepare a staff report; the City Council would vote whether to move forward; a public hearing would be held; and then affected property owners would be given ballots to vote for or against the formation of the special district.

Part of the conversation ahead among members of the City Council is whether the city would help fund these neighborhood projects and how. The city could pay for the portion of the work that involves city property and require property owners to pay the portion that overlaps their private property, for example. The also city could propose a utility tax or a financing district, among many other funding options.

A couple of underground utility special assessment districts have already been formed in the city and there is another in the process of being organized. Regardless of how the city decides to move forward after the Oct. 25 meeting, residents can continue moving forward on their own to move utilities underground in their neighborhoods.

The third option, Rule 20C, are projects that are typically funded by private developers. For example, if there’s a large parcel under development, the city could require the developer to construct the utilities underground.

“There seems to be tremendous consensus in Palm Desert to underground,” Jonathan said. “So why haven’t we done that? The main challenge is the projected $600 million cost to do everything in Palm Desert. ... This implementation plan I am hoping will tell us how we can overcome that challenge and get closer to actually under-grounding the utility lines.”

Council candidates generally spoke in favor of underground utilities.

In response to a candidate questionnaire, Jonathan and council member Jan Harnik, who are both up for re-election, noted their support for undergrounding utilities and that work was already underway — a point of pride for the current council. Harnik said "significant headway" has been made, with much more moving forward.

Challenger Kenneth Doran said he believes the city should try to convince homeowners of the value of under-grounding in hopes they choose to opt in to a special assessment district.

Differing from Doran, Challenger Carlos Pineda said he is concerned about placing the costs on homeowners. He said it "could potentially cause people to be put under the undue burden of additional cost of living." He said he hopes there is a fair process of public forums and education of those who would be voting on the special assessment districts.

Desert Sun reporter Nicole Hayden covers the cities of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. She can be reached at Nicole.Hayden@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4623. Follow her on Twitter @Nicole_A_Hayden.